Related Stories

An officer with the Owen Sound Police Service is one of the first recipients of a provincial award recognizing acts of heroism in the community.
Const. and acting Sgt. Patrick Rawn was presented with the Police Association of Ontario's Police Services Hero of the Year Award during the organization's recent annual general meeting in Richmond Hill.
Rawn and Const. Phil Sheldon of the Niagara Regional Police Service both won the "on-duty hero" award, while Special Const. Sharon Williamson of the Hamilton police was the recipient of community involvement award.
Rawn was honoured for his involvement in the Aug. 10, 2015 arson fires in the city.
"It is an honour to have such highly regarded people -- officers and civilians -- that won the award this year and it shows the value our members have in our communities," Police Association of Ontario president Bruce Chapman said Tuesday. "Owen Sound should be very proud of all the officers and civilians, but Const. Rawn in particular."
Chapman said Rawn was nominated by many in the community, including people who lived in the affected building.
"They all recognized Const. Patrick Rawn's leadership and sense of calm while he was rescuing people from the building," said Chapman.
One elderly man pushed out his kitchen window on an upper floor and Rawn was below telling him to calmly jump and he would catch him, and he did.
"Another resident said when he was finished helping people out of the building, (Rawn) picked up a garden hose to assist firefighters to control parts of the fire," said Chapman.
"Those are just a couple of the examples of members of the community that wrote in on the officer's behalf."
The winners were chosen from about 200 nominees from across the province.
"This was the first year for the award, and met with overwhelming success," Chapman said. "No doubt it will be continued going forward."
Launched earlier this year with the opening of nominations, the hero of the year award was established to recognize members of a police service who went "above and beyond" the call of duty during a specific event.
Chapman explained that the association's members and board came up with the award as a way for the public to nominate a police officer who they thought had dome something heroic.
"We are members of the community and we are in good standing in the community and sometimes there is a negative story," said Chapman. "We wanted to show the public and have the public aware of all the good stuff that we do."